


They Made It Till The End Of The Line

by MiniMoffat37



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Drabble, M/M, Major character death - Freeform, Pain, lots of pain
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-04
Updated: 2014-05-04
Packaged: 2018-01-21 20:26:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 768
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1562951
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiniMoffat37/pseuds/MiniMoffat37
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I'm so fucking sorry I read angsty Stucky fics and there was depressing music playing and Fireflies and Tightrope by Ron Pope and I wasn't okay and this happened I'm so so so sorry. Really. I'm sorry.</p>
            </blockquote>





	They Made It Till The End Of The Line

The Winter Soldier was cold. The Winter Soldier was birthed in ice and blood. He didn’t feel, he didn’t see anything but the mission. There was no warmth for him, only the cold. That was what he embraced, what he knew.

But this man with his blue eyes and honest face awoke feelings the Winter Soldier had never known. He knew this man, he knew he did. He didn’t know who Bucky was, he didn’t know who this woman with her red hair and brutal speed was, but he knew this man, this man he was supposed to kill. He was meant to kill him. That was his law, the law embedded so deeply in his body he thought it was in his soul. If he had a soul.

But, the man was free. And the Winter Soldier hadn’t killed him. The Winter Soldier never failed. His superiors saw this as a failure, but that little feeling this man had awoken in his chest told him it was meant to be. Protect him. Protect the man.

They wiped him, but they didn’t wipe it all. They couldn’t wipe that burst of warmth that had melted the ice that had birthed him. The man had started to unmake him, or maybe it was remake him?

The Winter Soldier was never angry, but this man was tearing all that he was apart. He was breaking down his defenses, the defenses that protected Bucky from the horrors that the Winter Soldier had to do. Didn’t this man with his honesty and purity see that he was protecting the tiny soul inside the ice? He was going to destroy that soul. Why was that soul getting warmer? Why was that soul melting him? It was infuriating. For the first time, the Winter Soldier felt fear. He was terrified of everything returning. He was feeling things.

But, when the blue eyed man fell into the water, Bucky knew. Protect Stevie. Protect the man he loved. Protect the man he was supposed to go to the end of the line with. And, crazily enough, the Winter Soldier wanted to go to the end of the line with them, too. Because they were part of him. Because he was as much of Bucky as Bucky was of him. And because they were meant to protect Steve.

He saved that man. He couldn’t say no. Bucky protected Stevie. Steve protected Bucky. It was time to thaw the ice so Steve could do what he was supposed to. Walking away hurt Bucky, but Bucky had to be ready to be protected from the nightmares and horrors by someone new. And that new someone had to be ready for him.

Steve kept the nightmares away from Bucky when the nights were dark. He gave him gentle cuddles and sweet kisses and hot tea at one o’clock in the morning. He watched his back when the bullets were flying and gently washed away the blood in the aftermath. He bundled him up in warm blankets when the nights were cold. He learned everything about what they missed with him. He took him home when social obligations were too much. He kissed him hard when Bucky doubted if he was worthy of this love. He whispered in Bucky’s ear at night that he wouldn’t let him fall, not ever again. And Bucky loved him for all of it. Bucky loved him because he understood when he broke things, when he woke up screaming, when he wasn’t okay. Bucky loved him because he was still that scrawny kid from Brooklyn that he had fallen in love with so many years ago.

Bucky remembered the Winter Soldier as he and Steve laid side by side under the stars in their warm blood. He remembered that cold ice that had kept him safe, but he didn’t want to be safe. He just wanted to kiss Steve one last time before they reached the end of the line. And he did, gently, tenderly, losing the strength to even prop himself up on his elbow as their lips pressed together.

“Too dumb to run from a fight… I’m proud to have followed you,” he whispered. Steve laced their numb fingers together.

“We’re at the end of the line,” he murmured against Bucky’s lips.

“We made it till the end,” Bucky said as he laid back, his strength gone. “I love you, punk.” The words crystallized before him and drifted away with his last breath.

“I love you, too, jerk,” Steve breathed out.  
The helicopters were too late. They had reached the end of the line.


End file.
